So I was playing a practice round today, and lately I have been thinking I should play all rounds as if it were a tourney round. IE: tossing a putter back into the fairway rather than trying to hit that 1 sqft gap in the trees to lay down a roller...etc. This way I learn to think straight in a tourney, and can swallow my pride and take the layup. But then there are times when I think practice rounds should be all out, testing boundaries and developing new skills. I am about to break the 900 rating point. I have goals of going much higher, so at this point what is best for my development into the future?

Good question. I'm kinda curious for an answer as well because I find myself in the same boat sometimes. While I can pull together decent rounds during league nights and tournies, when playing for practice/fun I almost always take the shot I wouldn't take when playing for the score.

Example: I'm normally a sidearm player, and often when I'm playing casualy I know I could flick a good shot the 200 feet to lay up to the basket after a bad drive, but I always pull out my midrange and shoot it backhand leaving myself in a less than optimal position.

I tell myself that it's good practice, but sometimes I wonder if I should just stick to the sidearm shot less I start becoming inconsistent in both forms.

Both. You need to develop different types of shots, and skills and then practice them all. If you never practicing hitting the 1 sqft roller shot or the spike hyzer over an obstacle, you won't be able to do it when you're faced with that as your only(best) option in a tourney.

Most of my improvement came from trying new things. I play forehand only rounds (I usually play 95% backhand). Putter only rounds. Midrange only rounds. Throwing discs I don't usually play with rounds. etc. etc.

Mixing it up keeps your mind working on your form. Good form usually results in good scoring. Also, you never know when you're going to need to forehand anny a midrange through a little gap. If you never practice "exotic" shots, you'll never have a chance of pulling them off when they're the only option you have.

I play practice rounds as it was a tournament setting. I mark my lie accordingly, I play the smart shot over the 'hope it makes it through' shot. I'll take OB penalties if I know that where I went was going to be OB. I found that if I play this way in a practice round, I eliminate the stupid mistakes I'd make during a tournament (throwing my disc back to my bag over 1 meter, foot faults, etc..) This form of practice raised my average round ratings from 900-915 to 940 and above in less then a month. Now the issue is I don't have the money to play tournaments to raise my rating to reflect my level of play. Which means I could bag the intermediate division (rubs hands together evilly)

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess it needs to be a judgement call. The whole risk reward thing? I know I don't ALWAYS want to take that little lay-up with no forward movement, when there's say an 80% chance of hitting a gap in the trees. So maybe that is what I need to figure out....at what percentage of a successful shot is it worth the risk in a tournament, and then at what percent is it worth my time developing in a practice round...? hmmm. That may be the best way for me to think about it. In a tourney it will NEED to be a high percentage shot, probably around 80% Practice I can afford to develop lower percentages into higher, but what's the cut off...60% In this scenario what percentages would you guys use?